Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nsst 475: Security In The 21st Century—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Tyler R. White

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio is the culmination of a year’s long planning and execution process to improve an existing capstone course NSST 475. This course has two goals: to teach students about subject matter and to expose them to structured analytic techniques (SATs) before they graduate. This course is a minor capstone which means that the students come from a diverse set of disciplinary backgrounds. I targeted two course objectives to examine for this project with the intention of employing backward course design to think through what students should be learning and how I can improve that process. This portfolio …

Adpr 221: Strategic Writing For Advertising And Public Relations—A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Michael D. Hanus

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The objective for this course portfolio was to document the changes implemented to a core advertising and public relations writing course. The portfolio outlines five proposed goals for the revised course: students should be able to write for an audience, give and receive quality feedback, prepare for novel situations in the workplace, see writing as rewarding, creative, and fun, and learn professional conventions and industry standards for strategic writing. The course was significantly restructured in order to better reach these goals on student assignments, activities, and during lectures. Each goal was assessed with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. …

Pols: 450: Research In Biology, Psychology, And Politics—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Ingrid J. Haas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio provides an overview of student learning in Research in Biology, Psychology, and Politics (Political Science 450). This is an upper-level undergraduate course focused on training students to conduct research in the interdisciplinary area of political psychology. Enrollment in the course is primarily advanced political science majors, or students from related majors (i.e., psychology) with an interest in politics. This course focuses on developing understanding of research methods and application of appropriate methods to small group research projects. In addition, the course helps to improve student confidence in ability to engage in the research process and understand …

Fors 401: Forensic Biochemistry—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Ashley Hall

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Students who participate in active and experiential learning activities develop a better understanding of basic scientific principles and are also more likely to be retained in a STEM discipline. Developing such activities, however, can be difficult. In the present study, we sought to develop classroom activities to engage university students and increase understanding of the theory and practice of forensic science. One common accessory amongst the target audience was the ever-present media, both social and popular (entertainment). In fact, a majority of students report watching at least one of the many popular forensic science shows on TV. Therefore, we hypothesized …

Adpr 450/850: Public Relations Theory And Strategy—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Ming Wang

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

I decided to join the Peer Review of Teaching program to achieve the following three objectives: to better align course objectives with course content, to improve ways of documenting and assessing student learning, and to fit the course into the broader curriculum.

Participation in the Peer Review of Teaching program has been most illuminating and beneficial. I got to focus on tackling three tangible objectives for my ADPR 450/850 Public Relations Theory and Strategy class. Then I got to apply many ideas introduced in this program, such as backward design principle and assessment methods, in my teaching. I had the …

Agro/Hort403/803: Scientific Writing And Communication—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Brian M. Waters

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Scientific writing is a skill that is useful for science students, since many of them will write about their research in theses, dissertations or journal articles. However, many students have not been trained in scientific writing, and the task seems insurmountable to some, who can develop a “fear of writing” that prevents them from finishing their program or manuscript. To effectively teach scientific writing, the instructor should devote the most effort to the most effective learning activities. Thus, this inquiry portfolio addresses two Research Questions: 1) “What is the most effective activity in my course for student learning?”, and 2) …

Geog 140: Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Large lecture classes, often of 100 students or more, present unique challenges to both teaching and learning. The common method of “delivery” by instructors is lecture, often augmented by a set of Power Point slides while the research literature shows that this more traditional way of teaching does not reach students in the way we hope and often assume. At the same time, most of the current students populating these classes are born of the Digital Age and have different expectations for learning, requiring new approaches in the classroom. Faculty are exhorted to incorporate more critical thinking in their classes …

Jour 302: Reporting Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Joseph Weber

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This document summarizes the results of an inquiry conducted as part of an advanced reporting course. The questions at hand were, “can students be taught to avoid bias in their journalistic work and to provide fair accounts of news developments?” and “how might they best be taught that?” This exploration revolved around a single lecture and discussion session, several reading assignments and the viewing of a video interview, and involved two writing assignments. The results suggest that both the teaching and evaluation of bias and fairness are difficult and complex. The findings suggest a single lesson may not be adequate …